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The governing board
of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) yesterday
met with officials of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff
Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) in Abuja on ways of aborting a
crisis over a demand for the reinstatement of two members.

Sources revealed
that one of the key resolutions of the meeting was the immediate
reinstatement of the two officials on or before next week Tuesday,
ahead of the next meeting of the board.

But it was gathered
that even as the two officials are expected to be issued with fresh
letters, latest next Monday, reinstating them to their former positions
as well as being paid the backlog of their salaries and entitlements
for the period, it might not be smooth sailing for them to resume their
seats.

The affected
members , Phillip Salvation and Daniel Afiakurue, who were General
Managers, finance and administration, and operations until they were
suspended in September 2007, along with the then Executive Secretary,
Oluwole Oluleye, over allegations of impropriety and corruption by the
Federal Government.

After two years of
investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
the three were recently cleared of all allegations.

Though Mr. Oluleye
has since December 2008 been retired with full benefits, the other two
officials, who still had long years of service, were yet to be
reinstated by the PPPRA management for lack of vacancy.

It was gathered
that the management had argued that it would be difficult to reinstate
the two, as directed by the office of Secretary of Government of the
Federation (SGF), as they were not consulted when the Federal
Government took the decision to suspend them from office.

Besides, the
management claimed that in the wake of the suspension of the three
officials, their positions were filled by new appointees, Gbenga
Komolafe, as acting General Manager (F&A), and Joseph Dogo as
acting General Manager (Operations).

Ultimatum

But PENGASSAN,
early this month, reportedly issued a 14-day ultimatum threatening to
embark on a nationwide strike if the directive by the SGF for the board
to find accommodation for the two was not met.

The crisis
degenerated, as the PPPRA management accused PENGASSAN of over-reaching
itself with its insistence on the reinstatement of the two officials,
since the issue had nothing to do with the welfare of its members, a
source said.

Joint conciliatory
committee meetings called for Kaduna between PENGASSAN executive
committee and PPPRA management to find a way out of the crisis was
reportedly ignored by Mr. Dogo on two occasions, resulting in the call
by the oil workers’ union for his immediate sack in line with the
dictates of labour laws, which stipulates that officials should be
summarily relived of their positions after three cases of
insubordination.

Prior to the
expiration of the ultimatum by the PENGASSAN last Thursday, it was
learnt that the PPPRA board had to take the matter before the Minister
of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu, who called for an
emergency board meeting held yesterday to forge reconciliation between
the union and management, and avert the strike.